It is listed as a 30cc plane, but at 10-10.5lbs in would be lighter than what I was flying. Only downside is that it is a serious chunk of change. I does come with all the niceties though so I don't have to go buy anything.

--SS

I seen one of those at the fun fly last week. It looked like a nice plane and flew pretty well. Of course the guy flying it was a futaba sponsored pilot so that helps.

I went to a hobby store nearby and the guy there said that having the kids build a plane from scratch isn't appropriate. I gather that the next step beyond snapping a plane together is spending months of careful work, which won't be all that interesting for my fifth graders. I'm having my students build simple wooden models now and I'm teaching them some vocabulary and concepts. Moving along quite nicely so far.

Spent all day flying. All planes are still in one piece. Had a bunch of flights on the ultra stick 60. Played catch the radian with me seven year old. He managed to catch it once and was in heaven when he did. Found out one of my buddies is now a member of the 300+ club. I can't imagine flying anything that fast.

I got my HBFP fixed up. Because I fly it so much I decided to get some chinese stuff to make a brushless setup. I needed a new tail motor too, so I put a direct drive kit from GWS on. I also got the cheap hobbyking headlock gyro.

It flies pretty well, and I'll be damned if I'm not ready for CCPM now. The more control I get the easier it is to fly around. The direct drive tail is amazing, the headlock gyro does a better job of correcting for larger throttle jumps than the old one, and the brushless motor does give me quite a bit more top speed. I've been doing hovering type "missions" lately. I'll take off, land on the roof, come back, fly over the tree, under it, back on the roof, etc.

I need something small, light, and easy to fly to warm up on before I start my funjet. I think I need to calm my sticks a bit before I fly something as fast. The funjet is just about ready. All I need to do is mount the battery in it's right place and run a few range checks to make sure the antenna positions are kosher.

Rolls Royce Merlin engines are quite rare these days. It's cheaper to get a modern engine from Lycoming, like you'd find in the Zivko Edge 540.

I know they're rare. That's why I take such joy in hearing them at full song when we have our every 5 years or so airshow here in Burlington, VT. I could care less about the Thunderbirds or Blue Angels; I want to see and hear the WWII birds, specifically those with inline V-12s.

Way back, some 25 years ago, the airshow that year (1985) had a pair of P-51Ds mock dogfighting over the crowd. The maneuvers may have been staged but both of those Merlin engines were firewalled as they passed over the flight line. The sound of a Merlin at full cry is not something you can describe, especially when it's 20 feet AGL and about 150 feet away horizontally, suffice to say that you won't need this week's sermon to think you've heard God.

Never ask a woman who is eating ice cream straight from the carton how she's doing.

I've heard it can be a bit of a waggle before everything is dialed in right, especially on launch.

I've been doing a lot of hand-launch stuff. In fact, my helicopter is the only thing I ever take off and land from the ground .

Mine normally tries to roll left and stall. Its been doinked in on launch a few times. With my setup I find about 25 to 30 degree launch angle is just right. Usually I throw it and it starts to sink but I recover about 3 feet off the deck and zoom straight up after that.

Captain Ned wrote:

OK, where do I buy a full-scale RC P-51/Spit/Hurricane with a proper Merlin 61 engine? If I'm going to fly something at that speed I need the appropriate sounds.

Fast radio controlled airplanes are basically ruled by one type of machine gliders. Dynamic soaring is where the speed really happens. The current world record is 445 MPH. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_soaring I have never been dynamic soaring yet but we have a 300+ mph mountain not to far from where I live. I am not pilot enough or rich enough to take up dynamic soaring but I need to go watch.

I don't care for warbirds. Most have all the bad traits of the full scale version and sometimes worse. I do know a guy that owns two yes two full scale P51's. I can get a ride in one pretty much anytime I feel like it. Don't hate me to much

I can get a ride in one pretty much anytime I feel like it. Don't hate me to much

Don''t worry. A quick comparison of my waistline and the size of the cockpit pretty much rules out flying in one without some serious dieting. When I win the Powerball and can afford the P-51 I'll also be able to afford the requisite behaviour modifications.

Never ask a woman who is eating ice cream straight from the carton how she's doing.

Just get your body to logan Utah and look him Brad did the noon time demo at the fall fun fly it was killer. He was out flying rc until about 11, went to the airport got the extra, did the noon demo, then came back to the fun fly. At the end of his noon show he was flying formation with a piper pawnee which is one of my favorite planes.

When I was a teenager in the Air Training Corps I did some basic aerobatics in a Chipmunk out of Filton Airfield in Bristol. There's nothing quite like pulling G's in a plane, we did a max of +4.5G and -1.5 but I think there might be a bit more than that going on in the Extra

I know they're rare. That's why I take such joy in hearing them at full song when we have our every 5 years or so airshow here in Burlington, VT. I could care less about the Thunderbirds or Blue Angels; I want to see and hear the WWII birds, specifically those with inline V-12s.

Way back, some 25 years ago, the airshow that year (1985) had a pair of P-51Ds mock dogfighting over the crowd. The maneuvers may have been staged but both of those Merlin engines were firewalled as they passed over the flight line. The sound of a Merlin at full cry is not something you can describe, especially when it's 20 feet AGL and about 150 feet away horizontally, suffice to say that you won't need this week's sermon to think you've heard God.

I used to see them all the time (typically in pairs) powering modified pulling tractors, and it's a total blast to hear a pair of them sing while fighting an enormous load. Lately they have been getting more and more rare though, mostly due to the lack of parts

If you can come up with a way you will be rich. Honestly though a high wing trainer/cub type airplane is your best bet. Take a look at www.parkzone.com you can pick up a decent plane pretty cheap from them.

Warbirds are not a good place to start almost as a rule when it comes to RC to many bad tendencies. The corsair is especially bad they get in a flat spin and you can't get them out.

Which is just too bad because they are beautiful planes.

I really wanted one until I heard about that. Many of them don't use the same airfoils and do not have the same tail volume and control surfaces, so are much more flyable. A full-retract corsair is a beautiful thing to come by on a low pass.

Warbirds are not a good place to start almost as a rule when it comes to RC to many bad tendencies. The corsair is especially bad they get in a flat spin and you can't get them out.

Which is just too bad because they are beautiful planes.

I really wanted one until I heard about that. Many of them don't use the same airfoils and do not have the same tail volume and control surfaces, so are much more flyable. A full-retract corsair is a beautiful thing to come by on a low pass.

I agree completely. The corsair is just about my favorite WWII plane. After hearing half a dozen very good pilots cuss them and seeing a few of them spin in I don't want one.

Hey secretsquirrel you still flying the spacewalker ? I am layed off from my construction job for the winter and my real job I only have maybe ten total days of work between now and march That means lots of RC building time for me. I am really thinking I want the 1/3 scale spacewalker. 104 inch wing span and lots of dollars but it will be a fun winters project http://sigmfg.com/cgi-bin/dpsmart.exe/M ... html?E+Sig Are you still liking the way yours flies ? Any problems with it ?

Hey secretsquirrel you still flying the spacewalker ? I am layed off from my construction job for the winter and my real job I only have maybe ten total days of work between now and march That means lots of RC building time for me. I am really thinking I want the 1/3 scale spacewalker. 104 inch wing span and lots of dollars but it will be a fun winters project http://sigmfg.com/cgi-bin/dpsmart.exe/M ... html?E+Sig Are you still liking the way yours flies ? Any problems with it ?

I haven't flown it in a couple of months, but it will be in the rotation next time I go out. I crunched up the cowl so cosmetically, it needs some work, but it is still functional. It is a lot of fun to fly. Very relaxing as it is not difficult. There is enough dihedral in the wing to make it quite stable, though you can still get it inverted without much trouble. My only real complaint about the one I have (1/4 scale, Great Planes) is that it has a one piece wing. Luckily it fits in my wife's Durango. All the other issues are due to it being an ARF and me not putting it together. Things like using a dowel as the pushrod for the elevator. I am thinking that I may pull all the hardware in it and re-vamp it. New servos, pull-pull on the tail, etc.

Several people at my field have said they have had either the 1/4 or 1/3 scale version and everyone has had positive comments. Wish I had that much free time. Though these days, that kind of free time tends to come with an accompanying drop in income. That I do not want. Look forward to seeing how it progresses.

Yeah I am lucky that I wont have a huge decrease in income. I figure building the spacewalker will actually save me money. If I buy the kit which is quite reasonably priced and work on it over the winter I wont be dreaming up other things to spend money on. The gear to finish it out isn't cheap but buying a little here and there will spread the pain out over months. I would really like to go with a saito twin but a thousand bucks is just more than I can spend on an engine. I have heard some pretty positive things about the DLE engines depending on model. They are very reasonably priced. Thats a few months away at this point anyway.